People can tame all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison.
James 3:7-8

It was late on a June afternoon when we pulled off Interstate 94 into a rest area in eastern Montana. Erin, my three-year-old daughter, needed to use the rest room. My mother, Erin's grandma, took Erin by the hand and walked up the paved path toward the facilities. As they neared the rest room, my mom felt a rug as Erin bent down to look at a young rattlesnake coiled on the path. Young rattlers have not yet learned to measure the venom they inject, so their bites can be lethal. Fortunately, this snake slithered away instead of striking Erin.

Many potentially dangerous animals roam the Western wilderness-rattlesnakes, mountain lions, grizzly bears. But the most deadly creature of all is closer than you think. It's a creature, says James, that none of us can tame: the tongue. The tongue's deadly poison can shatter self-esteem, ...